Unprecedented change in grocery retailing

11/03/2014

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Aldi and Waitrose post record market shares

The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks ending 2 March 2014, show new records set by Waitrose and Aldi as pressure on the big four supermarkets intensifies.

Chris Longbottom, director at Kantar Worldpanel, comments: “Aldi’s year-on-year growth rate accelerated to a record 33.5% meaning the retailer now accounts for 4.3% of the market while Lidl held on to the record 3.2% it reached last period. Despite this, Waitrose shrugged off the pressure from the discounters with its highest ever market share of 5.0%.

“Over the past three years Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl have taken a combined 3.5 share points from the competition which equates to £4.4 billion per year. This has put pressure on the big four supermarkets to compete for a shrinking middle ground and cut prices to directly combat the discounters.”

Among the big four, Sainsbury’s was the only retailer to hold its market share year-on-year at 17.0% and match the overall market growth of 2.2%. Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all recorded declines in share with Tesco and Morrisons also seeing a drop in actual sales.

The Co-operative has improved on historical performance with positive sales growth of 0.7% and only a marginal drop in share to 6.1%.

The overall grocery market growth of 2.2% represents a further fall from last period which was the lowest since mid-2005. Falling inflation is the main contributing factor behind this with the Kantar Worldpanel measure now standing at 1.9% – the lowest level since July 2010.

An update on inflation

Grocery inflation stands at 1.9%* for the 12 week period ending 2 March 2014. This is at the lowest level since July 2010 and offers some respite for hard-pressed household budgets.

The figures referenced in this news story relate to data as published at the time. Kantar Worldpanel data is periodically reworked to reflect improved methodology. This may result in some minor restatement of historical grocer shares.